It's All the Same
by Teliko. x3
Summary: Go ahead tell me you'll leave again. You'll just come back running, holding your scarred heart in hand.


**It's All the Same**

**Rating: Strong teen**

**Disclaimer: I own nothing. Except this idea.**

**Summary: "Go ahead tell me you'll leave again. You'll just come back running, holding your scarred heart in hand."**

**A/N: sigh Having parents that fight suck. I'm glad I have a computer. otherwise, I'd be SCREWED! lol.**

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_I don't mind where you come from  
As long as you come to me  
I don't like illusions I can't see  
Them clearly_

"Gil? Do you mind if Lindsey and I stay with you tonight?"

"You know you and Lindsey are more than welcome. Stay as long as you want."

"Thanks. That means a lot to me." She weakly smiled at her best friend before walking down the hall to get in her car, go home to a drink or(and) high husband who she'll argue with before taking her young daughter and leaving for a couple of days.

Gil watched her, confused; yet happy she was getting away from what she called 'home' for a few days. He had no idea why she stayed him. He couldn't figure it out. Although he knew for a fact a major part in staying with Eddie Willows was her young daughter, barely old enough to figure out why her parents fought in the first place.

He could clearly remember the first a crying Catherine fell into his arms in the doorway of his townhouse; her make-up ruined and her beautiful blue eyes, bloodshot. He had no idea what was going on and she was too upset to even get a whole sentence out of her mouth without sobbing harder and harder. He had managed to get one word out of her and it was:

"..Eddie..."

"Catherine, why don't you leave him? You don't need to live with that."

"I-I can't."

"Why not?" He remembered rubbing her back, comforting her.

"I'm pregnant," she cried out. His hand suddenly stopped it's soothing actions and his face fell.

_I don't care no I wouldn't dare  
To fix the twist in you  
You've shown me eventually  
What you'll do_

The sound of his door bell ringing tore him away from his current book. He opened the door without having to check through the small glass hole, knowing it was Catherine. Her eyes were light pink, a sign she was crying. Lindsey was wrapped around her body, her small head resting on her mother's shoulders, telling him she must be asleep. He gently opened the door and led her into his living room.

"Thank you," she whispered.

"No problem." He watched from the hallway as she carefully laid her daughter on the uncomfortable sofa in his living room. He walked up to her and placed his hand on her arm, stopping her from tucking her in completely. "You know that couch isn't the best place to sleep. Put her in my bed."

"Staying here for a couple of nights was more than enough, Gil. I don't want-"

"I don't mind, Catherine. She needs the comfort more than me." Catherine told herself she wasn't going to cry again. Not in front of her daughter or in front of her best friend. Not only did he care about her, but about her daughter as well. No one had ever shown her so much love and concern about her. She smiled and walked down the dark hallway with her daughter still in her arms.

_I don't mind.  
I don't care.  
As long as you're here_

She had decided that this was their last day in Gil's town house. They had spent three days and two nights there. She prayed Eddie calmed down enough to where Lindsey wouldn't get afraid, like she normally did. While her daughter was watching cartoons in the living room with a huge bowl of popcorn in front of her, Catherine was packing their bags again, making sure she didn't forget anything.

Gil had walked in, coming back from a slow shift and noted the house looked empty. He walked into his bedroom and leaned against the doorframe with his arms crossed over his chest. She was leaving again, going back to a life of abuse and hatred. He wanted to stop her, to tell her that she deserved so much better than what she thought she could settle for.

She turned around to head into the living room, when she jumped at seeing him propped against the door. She placed her hand over her chest, taking a deep breath.

"Jesus, Gil. You scared the hell out of me."

"You're leaving?" She sighed and zipped up her duffle bag.

"I can't stay here forever, Gil."

"Says who?" She smiled at his attempt to get her to stay longer.

"I have a daughter I need to take care of."

"She looks fine to me." Her smile turned into a sad frown.

"Does she? Honestly?"

"She looks like a normal, cartoon loving five year old."

"I have bills to pay, chores to do at the house, and-"

"-and a husband to support that doesn't show his appreciation?"

"Don't make this seem worse than it is."

"I'm not. I'm simply telling the truth. You don't want to go back, do you?"

"I don't want to go back, but Lindsey does."

"Oh. She wants to go back to crying in her room and watching television only when her dad is passed out on the couch?" Catherine's jaw dropped and the tears forced themselves to corner's of her eyes. She picked up her bags and began walking towards him. He held up his arm, blocking her way from the living room and her daughter. Her head dropped to her chest. "What do YOU want?" She whimpered, knowing all of what he said was true.

"I want... to start over again."

_Go ahead tell me you'll leave again  
You'll just come back running  
Holding your scarred heart in hand  
It's all the same  
And I'll take you for who you are  
If you take me for everything  
Do it all over again  
It's all the same_

"I don't wanna go mommy! I like it here!"

"But don't you wanna go see daddy?" Lindsey's face fell into confusion.

"Yeah. But... I don't wanna leave!" Catherine frowned. This is what she didn't want to happen. Staying at Gil's was the best thing ever for her. She could eat when and what she wanted, watch cartoons with the flash of her blue 'puppy dog' eyes, and even sleep in the 'big comfy bug bed'. She didn't want to go home to a life of nothingness.

"Come on, Linds. We gotta go." Catherine leaned over and turned off the tv, creating more of a fuss from Lindsey. She crossed her arms over her chest and shook her head.

"I'm not going! You can't make me!" Gil walked into the room at the sound of Lindsey raising her voice and was taken back when she got up from the floor and ran into his arms. "I wanna stay with you, Uncle Gil. I don't wanna go back home. Pleaseeee! Tell mommy you like me here!" His heart broke in half when he looked down at the small child. He ran his hand through her short blonde hair and bent down at his knees to get to her eye level.

"Linds, your dad is probably real excited to see you again! Why don't you want to go back?"

"Because!" She tugged on his dark jacket. "You're better. And mommy feels safe here! She even told me so herself!! Huh, mommy!?" Catherine regretted what she was about to do and sighed. She grabbed Lindsey's hand and dragged her away from Gil, out into the front of the townhouse, where her car was parked. Gil followed them, trying to calm down a furious and crying Lindsey. "NO! MOMMY! I don't WANT to go back home!" She put her daughter in the car seat, despite her kicking and screaming, and walked to the front of the car where Gil watched helplessly.

"Thanks for everything, Gil." He stood there, not saying a word. When he didn't say anything back, she grabbed her keys and took off for her house.

----

She parked the car in the driveway and looked back at her pouting daughter. She was staring intensely out of the window, not making an attempt to get out of her car seat.

"Linds, I want you know... that no matter what happens when we walk in that house, that your father loves you." Lindsey blinked. "And I love you too, okay?"

"... I love you, mommy." They gathered their bags and walked in the house. It was the same as when they had left it. The broken picture frames were scattered on the carpet and glass covered the coffee table, which was cracked in half. The chairs were all knocked over and the phone cord had been ripped from the wall. The only clean rooms in the whole house were Lindsey's room and Lindsey's bathroom.

"Go put your bag in your room and I'll come tuck you in. Okay?"

"Kay..." Catherine waited until her daughter was upstairs before she went around, picking up the picture frames with tears in her eyes. She cursed herself for being such a horrible person. A horrible wife, a horrible mother... a horrible best friend. This was her house, yet she wasn't the one who had control over it. She made the money, but she wasn't the one who got to spend it.

The fear in Catherine shot up when she heard Eddie's car pull into the driveway next to hers. She dropped the picture frame and ran up to Lindsey's room. She was just putting her bag in the closet when Catherine ran into the room and locked the door. Lindsey jumped and ran to her mother.

"Mommy, what's wrong?"

"Shh. Be quiet."

Silence.

"CATHERINE!" Both girls slightly jumped, with tears in her eyes, Catherine let go of Lindsey and pressed a kiss to her forehead.

"Love you."

"Mommy, no. Stay with me."

"I'll be right back, okay? Stay in your room, not matter what happens. Okay?" She got up and walked into the hallway, leaving a terrified Lindsey watching from her cracked door. Eddie stormed up the stairs when he caught sight of her and grabbed her by her hair. Lindsey whimpered and reached for her pillow. She cried into it as she listened to her mother's yells and screams of pain.

"Where were you for the last two days!?"

"Staying with a friend!"

"When you say friend, you mean your boyfriend?"

"Ed, stop!" He pulled on her hair harder and pushed her into the wall.

"So when were you planning on telling me!?" She had managed to push herself up from the wall, but he slapped her across the fast as fast as he could get his question out. Lindsey screamed from her room as tears spilled from her small eyes. She began to run for her mother, but remember what she had told her.

"I wasn't planning on telling you, because there's nothing GOING ON!" He laughed and turned his back to walk downstairs. Catherine, red in the face from anger and from being slapped, balled her fists up and ran after him. She grabbed his jacket and spun him around, punching him in the face. He stumbled back and caught onto her shirt, both falling down the stairs. He was the first to get up, with a bloody nose and scratches on his face. He looked down at his trembling wife and frowned.

"You bitch." He kicked her once in the stomach before grabbing his keys, and walking for the door, kicking one of the picture frames and hitting Catherine's head with it. She yelped in pain and screamed for Lindsey.

_Hours slide and days go by  
Till you decide to come  
And in between it always seems too long  
All of a sudden_

"Catherine?" He was in shock to see her again. It had only been a few days since she left with a crying and screaming Lindsey. He opened the door for her and noticed the cuts on her face as she walked past him. Lindsey stayed behind her mother, crawling into Gil's arms after he shut the front door.

Catherine said nothing. She simply put her bag on the floor, grabbing some clothes from it, and made her way to his extra bathroom. He looked down at Lindsey and frowned.

"What happened, Linds?"

"We went home..." He watched in disappointment. All the fighting this girl's parents did had made her adorable smiles and loving jokes disappear. She was no longer the Lindsey Willows he once knew. She was the girl who's parents hurt each other over stupid things. "We went home and daddy was mad because we stayed here."

All he could do was listen.

"And when mommy tried to protect me... he hit... her." A single tear fell from her eye. "And I was scared. I never seen daddy hurt mommy that much. But she told me to stay in my room, and that's what I did." He gently placed a piece of her hair behind her ears and kissed her forehead.

"You and your mom are safe here. Okay?"

"I know. That's why mommy brought us here." He looked up at her. "Because she knows you won't let anything happen to us." She wiggled out of his arms and sat in front of the tv with a blank expression on her face.

_And I have the skill, yeah I have the will  
To breathe you in while I can  
However long you stay  
Is all that I am_

He walked down the hall leading towards the extra bathroom and gently knocked on the door. When he didn't get a response he opened the door to find her drying her hair with a towel. The cuts from fighting with Eddie were still fresh and little blood seeped through the skin.

"I'm fine," she said.

"You're not fine and you know it." She threw the towel in the hamper and practically walked into his embrace. He held her close to his chest and sighed when she clutched onto his black tee-shirt. She winced in pain and gently pulled away. He watched in horror as she turned and pulled up her shirt, allowing him to witness the purple and black bruises forming on her soft, bare back. He placed his hand over hers and lowered her shirt back down. "You are not... going back with him. Do you understand me?"

"But Lindsey-"

"You and Lindsey will stay here with me until further notice. I'm not taking no for an answer."

"I can just... leave my house! My bills, my-"

"We'll get Brass to take care of it. Don't worry." She nodded, smiled, and hugged him again; this time, he was more aware and careful of her injuries. Both walked into the living room, finding Lindsey asleep on the cold floor with Gil's bed pillow and quilt clutched to her chest. He smiled, picked her up, and walked into his bed room. His bed was large enough for all three of them, but he began to walk out of the room once he had Lindsey settled under the covers. Catherine sat on the edge, toying with the end of her shirt as she called out to him.

"Gil?" He turned before closing his door.

"Yeah?"

"Stay with us?" An offer he couldn't pass up. Her smile grew as he walked back in the room and shut the door behind him. With Lindsey settled in between the two of them, they slowly fell asleep together; like it was always supposed to end.

_I don't mind...  
I don't care...  
As long as you're here_

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**A/N: YAY! Happy ending. LOL! Well... the song is, It's All the Same by Sick Puppies. There's a lot more to the song, but I didn't wanna drown you guys with Cath/Ed violence. LOL:) Let me know what you thought of it. Please? (smiles)**


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